This invention relates to the construction of columns and beams for articles such as furniture and toys, and is an improvement over the constructions disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,689, issued Jan. 23, 1979, and in copending application Ser. No. 956,993, filed Oct. 31, 1978, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,979 issued Oct. 21, 1980 with respect to which the present application is a continuation-in-part.
According to my prior copending application and its parent copending application, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,689, cross connected column and beam constructions are disclosed in which each elongated structural component has a chain-like design wherein link sections are alternately aligned with perpendicular planes intersecting along a common straight axis. According to U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,689, aforementioned, each column or beam is made of a one-piece solid material. According to my prior copending application, the leg elements of each link section are separate pieces rigidly interconnected by a bridging element common to adjacent link sections in the column or beam. The manufacture and assembly of such columns and beams and their adaptation to different load supporting articles, has been somewhat costly.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a less costly and more versatile chain-link type of construction for structural columns and beams.